The scattered wireless charging scene just became a little less messy, with two of the three major standards uniting as one.
While most of us know of the Wireless Power Consortium’s work in the Qi standard, there have also been two other competing alliances up to this point: the Power Matters Alliance and the Alliance for Wireless Power.
Now those latter two alliances have merged to form the AirFuel Alliance. The move was actually announce back in January, but we now have formal confirmation (via VentureBeat) and a name for the new rolled-up standard.
The AirFuel Alliance now represents a sizeable threat to WPC, with 195 companies backing it. These include powerful players such as Intel and Duracell, although many of the biggest smartphone manufacturers continue to support WPC and Qi.
“The introduction of AirFuel is a clear step in the right direction for true wireless charging,” says AirFuel Alliance president Ron Resnick. “We embrace a new, inclusive ideal of wireless charging and those member companies within AirFuel Alliance are energised towards bringing wireless power products to consumers globally.”
AirFuel products will support both inductive and resonant charging technology, often simultaneously through so-called multimode systems. The company also promises to support “future standards,” some of which won’t even rely on magnetic technology.
Related: Wireless Charging: How close are we to throwing away the cables?
The AirFuel Alliance vision is stated as “a better user experience through the development of shared wireless charging standards available on a global scale wherever consumers may go.”
It looks like we now have a straight fight between two opposing standards for the privilege of making charging cables obsolete.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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